TCU Breaks Ground on School of Medicine in Fort Worth

Texas Christian University recently broke ground on a new school of medicine in Fort Worth, Texas, to meet rising demand for medical services in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, according to a news release. The Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine is scheduled to open in summer 2024 and is the university’s first significant off-campus development. It will have the capacity for 240 medical students (known as “Empathetic Scholars”) as well as hundreds of faculty and staff.

The 95,000-square-foot facility is named after Anne Burnett Marion, a Fort-Worth native and prominent Texas philanthropist who founded the Georgia O’Keefe Museum in Santa Fe, N.M.

“The digging has begun, and a new era for the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine has launched,” said Dean Stuart D. Flynn, M.D. “With this new building project in the city’s Near Southside neighborhood, TCU’s investment in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, and the state continues.”

The news release reports that the new facility is part of a larger, 5.3-acre extended campus master plan that will also include additional facilities. The medical school is a joint architectural venture between CO Architects, based in Los Angeles, Calif., and Hoefer Welker, based in Dallas-Fort Worth.

“Our design approach for the Burnett School of Medicine merges the modern-day medical school with the regional influences of Fort Worth and TCU’s recognizable architectural brand on a new, downtown campus,” said Jonathan Kanda, FAIA, Principal at CO Architects. “This new home will enable collaborative learning in team-based classrooms, experiential learning in simulated medical environments, and a meaningful, intimate culture in a wide range of community areas and small-group study spaces.”

“It will fuel innovation not just through traditional life science research, but also through close engagement with a broad, interdisciplinary array of hospital systems, health-related consortia, and biotech industries partners,” said Travis Leissner, AIA, Associate Principal at Hoefer Welker.

CO Architects is serving as the design architect and medical education specialist, while Hoefer Walker is the architect of record, according to the news release. The university is also partnering with Dunaway as the civil and structural engineer and landscape architect, SSR Inc. as the building systems engineer, and Linbeck as the construction manager.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Phoenix High School Completes First Phase of Campus Renovations

    Metro Tech High School, part of the Phoenix Union High School District (PXU) in Phoenix, Ariz., recently announced the completion of the first stage of a campus renovation project, according to a news release. The school reopened a series of public-facing business operations spaces including credit union, daycare, floral, cosmetology, and culinary services. It also includes new CTE learning spaces for the school’s nursing assistant, pharmacy, and sports medicine programs.

  • Auburn University Debuts $224M STEM + Agricultural Sciences Complex

    Auburn University in Auburn, Ala., recently opened its new $224-million STEM + Agricultural Sciences Complex, the largest research construction project in the university’s history, according to university news. The facility measures more than 265,000 square feet and brings six departments from the College of Agriculture and College of Sciences and Mathematics together under one roof.

  • Charles R. Drew University Opens Health Professions Education Building

    Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU) has officially opened its new Health Professions Education Building (HPEB) in South Los Angeles.

  • Nashville Elementary School Receives LEED Gold Certification

    Goodlettsville Elementary School, part of Metro Nashville Public Schools in Nashville, Tenn., recently achieved LEED Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), according to a news release. The 81,750-square-foot school opened in 2023 and was designed by Goodwyn Mills Cawood (GMC).